Library of Congress May 9, 2012 Dr. Sten Odenwald NASA

Acknowledgments Music Division Ms. Susan Clermont Mr. Loras Schissel Ms. Jan Lauridsen Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Elizabeth Gettins Website Mr. Pat Padua Mr. Domenic Sergii Ms. Betsy Miller Ms. Moryma Andelott Network Development Team

Galileo ca 1609.

Inappropriate use of Telescope Probably illegal use in many countries

Galileo ca 1609.

1,500 BC Assyrian Venus Transit observation ?

Montezuma ca 1520?

1631… Predicted but not visible in Europe

1639 Jerimiah Horrocks correctly predicts, and first observes, ‘new’ Venus transit. William Crabtree also sees it.

December 4, 1639 June 5, 1761 June 3, 1769 December 8, 1874 December 6, 1882 June 8, years 8 years years 8 years years

1761 Transit seen by 176 people. Atmosphere discovered by Mikhael Lomonosov Public reaction?

sightings published. Captain Cook’s Tahiti chronicles

New York Times August 30, 1874 Le Gentil’s ill-fated expedition

1769 Norrington’s observation from Pennsylvania

New York Times, January 8, 1857 The next transit…..?????

1874 December 8, Many photographs taken, few useful. Congress allocates $75,000 for international scientific expeditions. Simon Newcomb

New York Times, December 21, 1874

New York Times, November 15, 1879

New York Times, November 27, 1882 …No intelligent person who realizes its importance will fail to do as much toward the celebration of the rare event as to follow the planet’s course with the aid of smoked glass, at some point during its passage. It is the simplest sight imaginable, a tiny black dot making its way over the sun, but the solution of the great problem of the sun’s distance may hinge on the seemingly unimportant occurrence.

Photograph of the 1882 transit of Venus taken at Vassar College by Maria Mitchell and her students. (Picture courtesy of Vassar College Library) An image of the 1882 transit of Venus recorded at Lick Observatory, California

New York Times, December 23, 1882

1882 December 7 Massive public interest.

The Transit of Venus March

The Venus Gallop

The Venus PolkaThe Venus Waltz

Library of Congress - I Hear America Singing Sousa’s Transit of Venus March Additional VT theme-related sheet music Educational Activities

“Senator Chea Campaign Demagoguery” Washington Post September 27, 1884 Some things never change…

New York Times, April 26, 1894

Tycho Brahe ca ,000,000 miles Kepler ca ,000,000 miles Giovanni Cassini ,000,000 miles 1882 Venus Transit ,720,000 miles 1960 Venus Radar studies ,957,209 miles. The Astronomical Unit

“There will be no other [transit of Venus] till the twenty- first century of our era has dawned upon the earth, and the June flowers are blooming in What will be the state of science when the next transit season arrives God only knows.” [1882 – William Harkness, USNO]

Bill never said anything about Cicadas!!!!

First Webcast – over 50 million viewers!

European Southern Observatory - The VT-2004 project, 2763 participants school classes. 1 AU = 149,608,708 km ± 11,835 km Adopted value = 149, 597, 871 km

NASA TRACE satellite – Optical band

NOAA - GOES-12 satellite soft X-ray imager

Courtesy - Astronomy Picture of the Day 6/8/2004 Courtesy - Detlef Koschny Courtesy – Fred Espenak (NASA)

So when will it happen? Washington DC Area: Start: 6:03 PM Sunset: 8:26 PM Ends: Midnight We see the first 2 hours

Lots of places to view from this time!!!

Yes… There is an App for that!!! Timing the transit of Venus with the Transit of Venus phone app – Steven van Roode

If you miss the transit this time… you can try again in… !